For many comedians, The Edinburgh Fringe is the event of the year, bringing together the best of the industry, but for beloved Australian comedian and TV personality Luke McGregor, Scotland was always a place he felt connected to. In the second season of Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey, Luke finds himself there on a very different kind of adventure: to piece together his family history, one that, until now, he knew very little about.
“I knew that my great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland to Australia, and that he had a falling out with our Scottish family, and then put my grandfather into foster care,” Luke tells SBS.
“So we have really had no line whatsoever to our Scottish family.”
The second season of Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey sees a new group of popular Australian personalities visit locations around the world in an attempt to learn more about their family story. Accompanied by Shaun, Luke sets out on a mission to reestablish his connections in Scotland, but the promise of a stronger sense of self was tempered somewhat by the reality of what he could discover.
“The most nerve-wracking thing, I guess, was that I'd find out that I was related to a bunch of horrible people!” Luke admits.
Shaun is both companion and guide, and from the moment they land in the city of Edinburgh, he and Luke throw themselves into local traditions, kilts and all. Though he may seem like an unlikely host at first, Luke says that Shaun didn’t shy away from the emotion of the process, but also brought his signature brand of humour to their travels.
“I’ve known Shaun Micallef since I was young, and he was a great travel partner,” said Luke.
“It was interesting to see what would happen, because we were going to massacre sites and things like that.”
“He was obviously respectful, but he did also ask me to jump in a pit at one point where my ancestors had been chained up before they were executed.”
For two comedians travelling together, humour was never going to be far away, but Luke says it took some time to figure out how to let inevitable laughs coexist with the significance of the experience.
“It was tricky because I always want to be entertaining and I want people watching to feel like it's a fun episode to watch and to make them laugh, but at the same time I wanted to lean into what it was like experiencing all this and learning,” Luke said.
"Getting the balance right was hard!”
After spending time in Edinburgh, where they set about getting into the Scottish spirit, finding their tartans and sampling local delicacies, Luke and Shaun continue their adventure with a visit to the home of Luke’s third cousin, John. As John shares his knowledge of the family, along with photographs and stories of Luke’s great great grandfather Colin, the information gathered thus far begins to fall into place. It was a meeting that held unexpected emotion for Luke.
“It was really, really lovely just to know that there are relatives outside of my immediate family,” Luke says.
“(To see the photographs) made it feel a bit more real to me. My wife (author and academic Dr Amy Thunig) is Indigenous, and my kids have got a really strong connection to country here through that, so it was lovely having that my own experience of connection in a way.”
As they journey beyond Edinburgh through the Scottish countryside, the change of landscape brought with it many opportunities to reflect. A connection to place was something Luke noted as being particularly meaningful to his experience.
“There was a point where I was just amongst the hills and the grass and these stones on the side of the road, and I had never really understood what my wife meant by the connection to country,” Luke explains.
“But when I was in Scotland, I thought ‘oh, this must be what Amy means’ in that there's a history there.”
“It felt like home in the same way I feel home when I'm with my family.”
The opportunity to understand his genealogy more deeply, and uncover a culture he had not entirely explored, led Luke to think more about the importance of knowing where you come from and how many people never get the chance to trace their ancestry.
“I think that connection exists for all of us somewhere on Earth,” Luke says.
“For white people who feel like maybe we don't have a ‘culture’ while at the same time being perceived as a dominant culture, it's kind of this weird juxtaposition.
Throughout the episode, Luke also reflects on the challenges he faced growing up, particularly the bullying he was subjected to during his school years, and finds comfort in the newfound understanding of the traits that have defined the McGregor clan throughout history.
“I think at one point we found out that it was illegal to be a McGregor, and hearing some of the hardships that my ancestors went through makes me wonder if, on the other side of trauma, is that strength as well from what people before you overcame; that it gets transferred to you as well.”
Armed with a newfound sense of his Scottish heritage, Luke says maintaining the connection to this part of his identity will be a priority, not only for himself, but also for his children, and generations to come.
“Knowing that I have relatives in Scotland, and not wanting the kids to have the sort of disconnect that I had growing up, we want to get over there as much as we can,” Luke says.
“My wife actually also has Scottish heritage. Apparently our clans fought together against the British at one point!”
"We want to keep strengthening those connections so that when our kids are older, they've still got people there. The goal is just to keep fostering those bonds.”
As Luke, and the five other guests on the second season of Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey, build a more complete picture of their heritage, they provide an insight into the power of connection and the bonds of family and culture. Through the diversity of their stories and experiences, the chance to delve into the people and places that came before is shown to be both emotional and transformative.
“The past exists for all of us,” Luke reflects. “And it was really lovely to have such an amazing team of researchers helping me find mine.”
Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey season 2 airs weekly at SBS starting every Tuesday at 7:30pm. Episodes are available at SBS On Demand earlier that same day.
Luke McGregor's episode is now available to stream at SBS On Demand.
All episodes of season 1 of Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
